Quotes Entirely Relevant to Investing 11-09-2008

by Mr Juggles

Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you’re being had.

Let’s be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.
-Michael Crichton on Global Warming

Past Quotes Entirely Relevant to Investing



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Comments

  1. Bubba Hotep
    November 9th, 2008 | 11:46 am

    RIP Mr. Crichton

  2. Nick
    November 9th, 2008 | 6:06 pm

    Great quote, when did he say that? (ie. was it before the current global warming consensus?)

    Long Dinosaurs

  3. The Scientific Consensus
    November 9th, 2008 | 11:16 pm

    Good riddance. He wrote good books 20 years ago, the recent three were disastrous. State of Fear is scientific bunk, but it has reached its goal of selling well with the ostrich crowd.
    http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=74

  4. MPH
    November 10th, 2008 | 5:04 am

    “Quoting RealClimate.org as a reliable source of information on climate science is like quoting Disneyland.com for reliable information on mouse behavior.”

    -Jim Peden

    Originally posted in comments [url=http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/pgutis/public_enemies.html]here[/url].

  5. Pleb
    November 10th, 2008 | 1:33 pm

    Good grief, my man Juggles. What in the name of Karl Popper’s ghost makes you think that scientific truth must be falsifiable, as opposed to permanent dogmatic truth? Denier! Heretic!

    It’s this kind of thinking that causes a man to lose his seat in all the right clubs, you know. *Everybody* knows that.

  6. November 10th, 2008 | 9:31 pm

    Dude, you totally just gave Roubini a stiffy, nice, real nice.

  7. Hans Moleman
    November 11th, 2008 | 7:37 pm

    I always wonder what they mean when they say “the Earth’s temperature” has done this or that.

    From the link posted in (3): “Global warming is defined by the global mean surface temperature.”

    Seriously?

  8. bcd
    November 12th, 2008 | 5:01 pm

    in keeping with deceased 2008 geniuses:

    “And I submit that this is what the real, no-bullsh|t value of your liberal-arts education is supposed to be about: How to keep from going through your comfortable, prosperous, respectable adult life dead, unconscious, a slave to your head and to your natural default-setting of being uniquely, completely, imperially alone, day in and day out.”

    David Foster Wallace – 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College

  9. Matt
    November 15th, 2008 | 10:54 am

    As an LOS shareholder, I propose that a new business plan be created to target the ‘Hope and Change’ demographic which seems to offer an attractive (and profitable) consumer base.

    Products need to be utterly useless (and mostly fake) but marketing has to be top notch with heavy input of social and ecologically conscious techniques.

    Let us know of the progress on this in the next shareholder meeting. Thanks.